On the first play of the game against Ole Miss, quarterback Jordan Ta’amu launched a pass to receiver D.K. Metcalf for a 75-yard touchdown. The Alabama player in coverage was Saivion Smith.

Smith lost his starting job to true freshman Patrick Surtain Jr. and really only made an appearance once the game was settled, but the loss of his job didn’t stop Smith from improving.

“He just put his head down and worked, which is what you gotta do because when you see it played out you never know what can happen,” outside linebacker Christian Miller said. “He’s just did a great job of keep on working and he’s a position in which he’s in a large role for us and is doing a great job.”

In those first two games, Smith totaled nine tackles and an interception, which he returned 37 yards for a touchdown.

In his reserve role he tallied five tackles and a pass breakup.

“We keep working with him,” coach Nick Saban said. “We think he’s getting more confident and done a good job.”

When Alabama defeated Arkansas in its first game of October, it lost starting defensive back Trevon Diggs for the season. Smith was inserted back into the starting lineup.

“He’s going to have to step up, but we have other guys that are going to have to step up as well, not just at the cornerback position,” safety Deionte Thompson said when Diggs went down. “There’s other guys that are ready. They just have to step up.”

On the first passing play of the game, Missouri quarterback Drew Lock threw a pass to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, but found Smith instead. The junior caught the ball at Missouri’s 57-yard line and returned it down to the 14.

He added a second interception later in the game, intercepting Lock in the end zone.

Smith originally committed to LSU as the No. 5 cornerback in the 2017 class. The four-star corner played there for a season, replacing Kevin Toliver when he went down with injuries.

He transferred after his freshman year and went to Mississippi Gulf Community College. In his lone season as a Bulldog, he recorded 31 tackles and two interceptions. He committed to Alabama in early December of 2017 and enrolled in January.

Saturday will be the first time Smith will be playing at LSU since he left the program on May 31, 2017.

He will be facing a Tiger offense that is 11th in the SEC but has explosive play capabilities. The Tigers are led by quarterback Joe Burrow, who is eighth in the SEC with 1,544 yards.

Burrow has been careful with the ball as he only has three interceptions on the season, two of which came against Florida.

“I think that it’s going to be important that our corners play really well against their receivers,” Saban said. “They take a lot of shots. They throw the ball downfield a lot. They’ve been pretty good at making explosive plays. So the corners will be tested in this game and how they play in the game will have a big impact on the outcome of the game, no doubt.”